5 Low Cost Ways to Keep Your Destin Home Cool In The Summer!!

Northwest Florida home owners are no strangers to sunshine and summer heat!

Did you know that Florida is exposed to over 230 days of sunshine each calendar year? That's more than 60% of the year to enjoy pristine Destin beaches, relax in an outdoor pool, and get involved in all of those amazing outdoor activities that Destin communities have to offer.

What the heat also means is that you're likely going to run your energy bill up to keep your home cool. Wouldn't it be great if you could spend less money on running your air conditioning, and more on enjoying your Northwest Florida vacation home?

One of the largest benefits of buying a new home in Florida is the energy-saving technology that is built in to those homes. This technology helps to keep your home cool and comfortable as well as saving you money.

For those who do not have the benefit of having a new home, The Chris Carter Team understand that trying to keep your home cool, without costing a fortune, is vital to you as a home owner.

Keep your Destin home cool this summer by:

Maintaining Your Air Conditioner

We would be remiss if you didn't tell you that servicing your air conditioner is one of the single most important things you can do to save money! Air conditioners need to be serviced once a year by a professional so that they are cleaned, adjusted, and working properly.

Experts also recommend changing your air filter at your return air grille. All the air in a home passes through that filter at least two to three times per hour. If your air conditioner is straining to pull that air through that filter, it will cost more to operate your system.

Installing A Programmable Thermostat

If you are away from home during the day, install (and use!) a programmable thermostat that will cool off the house just before you arrive home, instead of maintaining a cool temperature when no one is there. This is one of the most effective tools that you can use to make a difference in energy usage in your home. It takes more energy to keep a house cool over time than it does to cool a hot house down.

Use Awnings or Install Shutters

The best way to deal with unwanted solar gain is to keep it out in the first place. Did you know that awnings are proven to reduce the amount temperature rises in your home - due to sunshine - by as much as 65% on southern exposure windows, and 77% percent on western exposure windows?

Properly designed awnings or shutters, can translate into a saving of cooling energy of over 25% in your Florida home.

Use Ceiling Fans The Right Way

The tried-and-true ceiling fan is always a cheap way to feel cooler in the summer. Ceiling fans actually do need to be used correctly in order to be most effective. The base of your ceiling fan has a small switch that changes the direction of the air flow.

During the summer months, your ceiling fan should blow in a counter-clockwise direction, forcing air down to make you feel cooler. Running a fan this way will have a cooling effect of almost 6 degrees.

Ceiling fans help to keep you cool, rather than cooling the entire room, so there is no point in leaving them on if you leave the room.

Don't Cook Inside!

There's a reason our ancestors built summer kitchens! Stoves put out a lot of heat. An outside summer kitchen is all the rage in Destin, Florida right now, and this is the reason why. It really makes no sense to run a stove inside, just to then spend money to run the air conditioner to remove the heat. You'll enjoy entertaining on your screened Northwest Florida outdoor space and save money while you're doing it!